USF alum Aaron Poreda’s long road back to the majors

There’s a great story of perseverance in the Rangers’ bullpen. Aaron Poreda, a 6-foot-6 left-hander, worked a scoreless sixth inning in Tuesday night’s game at the Coliseum.

The simple fact that he’s on a big-league roster is noteworthy in and of itself.

A graduate of Campolindo High in Moraga, Poreda thrived at USF. The White Sox selected him in the first round of the 2007 draft. He made his major-league debut with Chicago on June 12, 2009.

The White Sox sent him to San Diego a little more than a month later in the deal that brought Jake Peavy to the South Side.

Poreda, now 27, had decent numbers (1-0, 2.70 ERA) in a combined 13-1/3 innings over 14 appearances with the White Sox and Padres that season, but that would be the extent of his major-league career until 2014.

“I think I just wasn’t ready mentally,” he said Tuesday afternoon, “maybe I was a little too young, a little naive. And also, at the start of that season, my body started tightening up, maybe my elbow was starting to give out a little bit, so my control was a little sporadic.”

He walked 64 batters in 54 minor-league innings in 2010. He walked 63 in 69-2/3 minor-league innings in 2011.

“Velocity went down,” Poreda said. “Control went down. My ball was going all over the place. I didn’t know right from wrong. It seemed like I was drowning. I didn’t know which way was up.”

The Pirates took him in the Rule 5 draft in December 2011. He pitched in only three games for Pittsburgh’s Double-A affiliate. Poreda ultimately realized he wasn’t bending his elbow enough in his delivery, but it was too late. He had Tommy John surgery in October 2012 and was released by the Pirates in March of last year.

“That was the farthest I’ve been away from baseball since I’ve been drafted,” Poreda said.” You really have to dig down deep, and say, ‘Hey, do I want to continue this as my career?’ That’s something I’m really good at; I’ve got a really hard work ethic. And, it made me realize and appreciate the game of baseball a lot more.

“Once you’re away from it and you see everyone out there still playing and how the game goes on without you … I didn’t want to go on without it.”

Poreda eventually got back into pitching shape; “It’s like I have a brand-new arm,” he said. “It’s like a miracle.” The Rangers signed him in October. He began this season with Triple-A Round Rock. Poreda got the call-up to the majors Friday when Tanner Scheppers went on the disabled list.

He pitched one-third of an inning against the White Sox on Saturday, almost five years since his previous big-league appearance.

After all he endured, Poreda possesses a special appreciation for life in the majors.

“Every day I’m here,” he said, “you’ve got to think … that it could be your last. So, you give everything you have, you cherish every moment and you just let the chips fall where they’re going to fall.”